Pokemon Training Regime
by The Final Lament
Summary: David retreated to the mountains to train two years ago,now his training area is one of the largest unoffical gyms on Earth even it's own tournament. If he or his pokemon win his competition the gym will become official. But more is at stake than a gym...
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own pokemon or any affilated brands, etc. However I do wish it were real.

Author's Note: This is my first attempt at first person in almost 6 months so I do apologise if it is substandard.

Also once again the main characters name is David, seriously it's the best I can think of.

'_italics' _means thought or telepathy

* * *

David ducked under the kick then sidestepped the next. Sweat poured from his brow, a look of intense concentration on his face as he dodged blows that if they connected would kill on contact. He blocked a punch with the edge of his hand – a textbook knife block – before launching a punch of his own, it was blocked easily like all the blows he had attempted, next tried a low sweeping kick trying to take his opponents legs out from under him. No joy. A rapid series of blows a blocks proceeded, the offence alternating by the second. After three minutes of this constant barrage a blow slipped under David's guard and caught him square on the chest with enough force to break bone rock and steel.

"Thankyou Gardevoir." Dave looked down at the shimmering shield encompassing his body.

"Choke."

"And thank you for the workout Machoke, same time next week and you need to improve your footwork, a single decent kick and you'll have lost, you need to distribute your weight more."

He looked around the cavern at his poke'mon, all except Gardevoir training with other pokemon which attended his unoffical Gym.

Gallade was duelling a Scyther, the metallic clang of blades echoeing across the cave as arms moved at speeds which were a blur to human eyes.

His own Scyther was duelling a Scizor which was currently backing away as it struggled to keep up a defence.

Lucario was currently swapping Aura Spheres for Rock Blasts against a Rhyperior. Every Aura Sphere broke through three Rock Blasts but with the speed the Rhyperior was firing at it was only a matter of time before Lucario was overwhelmed.

Machamp was fighting three Machoke and winning easily, by the looks of things he'd taken the recent lecture on nerve holds to heart.

"Machamp" He uppercutted the nearest one which had tried punch him in the chest before turning in time to stop the two fists which were cutting the air towards him, with both arms caught the Machoke was unable to block the two blows that caught him on the head. It had taken just a couple of seconds. He stepped back the kick from the still conscious Machoke passing an inch from his nose. The four arms moved in a blur of blows and the Machoke fell back, out cold.

The Machoke were either wild or belonged to another trainer.

David looked around just in time to see Lucario hit the wall, another 5 rocks hit her pinning her there till the attack ended and she fell to the floor. Another scan of the room revealed that Scyther had also won it's match.

'_They're getting better don't you think?'_

_'Hardly, Lucario was a pushover as usual'_

_'Actually she lasted longer than expected, but look at Machamp, even I can't find a fault'_

_'Fighting types, useless the lot of them.' _There was the equivalent of a mental snort, _'Why do you even bother?'_

_'Don't be so condescending, you haven't fought in four months, even Lucario might beat you.'_

Gardevoir snarled in one of her few overt shows of emotion. In response Dave walked across the cave and put an arm around her.

"Why are you jealous? It's still just you, Empoleon and me when it comes down to it."

A bell rang telling all fighters to clear the floor.

The floor emptied of both the wild pokemon and the trainer pokemon, the wild pokemon had come to consider this a chance to get stronger without any personal risk.

The knockout competition would last the remaining three days of the week. David allowed himself a small smile, he had six entries but one was particularly unusual. Himself.

The first round gave easy victories to all five of the 'gym leader's' pokemon and finally it was his turn.

The voice of the loudspeaker begin announcing: "And now, the fight you've all been waiting for, your host and dojo master.... David!!! and his opponent a Lucario owned by 5-Sinnoh-badgeholder Travis."

The Lucario appeared on the field but there was no sign of the human.

"As with all such fights it is considered over when David suffers a would-be-fatal blow or if Lucario retreats or is knocked unconscious."

Jeers began rising form the crowd at the no show.

A spotlight turned on. David jumped from the rock shelf he had been knelt on and diving the 500ft to the ground, at seemingly the last possible moment he turned back to upright and stopped ten centimetres from the ground, hovering slightly before dropping the remaining distance. It was a time tested perfomance done solely by David's on power. The only psychic he knew of who was stronger was Sabrina.

Slowly and with maximum drama he drew his pair of bokken – wooden training blades but they'd be enough for this.

"This is a joke." said a sneering voice – the trainer Travis presumably. "Ok, Lucario let's end this farce, Aura Sphere then Bone Rush."

Again David allowed himself a rare smile, 'too predictable' he thought wryly.

He sidestepped the Aura Sphere easily and parried the first Bone Rush strike easily, jumped the second a lashed out with his own blades, Lucario parried one but the other caught it in the ribs causing a small cut and presumably a large bruise. The pair disenengaged then came in for another exchange, this time with no obvious advantage.

"Lucario get some distance, we can take this joker at range."

The Lucario tried to get away but I kept up forcing it to face towards me to avoid some serious injuries.

"Lucario use Dragon Pulse."

Dave hit the ground running – metaphorically speaking, what he actually did was leg it as far away as he could in the time it took Lucario to charge the pulse. He made around fifteen metres before turning around and crossing his bokken and bracing for impact. A small psychic shield shimmered over his skin to absorb the initial impact.

The trainer noticed at the same time as Lucario launched the pulse.

"Referee, he's using his pokemon!"

The pulse hit knocking David flying. He got up slowly.

"Ref, he's blatantly cheating – Aarrgh!"

David had formed his own small Aura Sphere and thrown it at the trainer. Like his psychic abilities they weren't quite at pokemon level, in fact his aura abilities were weaker than most he just knew how to tap them.

"Now call me a cheat."

He slowly limped to his blades and picked them up.

"Lucario he's practically out for the count finish him, Steel Claw!"

Just as the attack was about to hit David transferred the weight to his back leg and caught Lucario with a stunning roundhouse to the head – his injury feined. Lucario growled and striked blindly through a red haze of again. David took something from his jacket and through it to the ground, smoke covered a small portion of the arena as the smoke bomb did it's work.

All that could be heard was the occasional thud, but just as the smoke began to clear Lucario came flying out unconscious.

David reholstered his bokken then faced Lucario and bowed then repeated the process with the trainer and the referee before he stalked towards the exit. Round one was over and he had maybe five hours before round two.

"Too easy." He muttered.

_'Told you fighting types were useless' _was the smug reply

Author's Note: What do you think?


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own pokemon however I hopefully will publish my own book soon.

The problems started in the second round. Both Scyther and Lucario were knocked out of the tournament, but that wasn't the problem. During Gallade's fight the field had shrouded itself in smoke and when it cleared Gallades opponent, an Alakazam had been cut in half. Gallade denied it but due to the type disadvantage, David's earlier use of a smoke bomb and the blades on Gallades arms it wasn't looking good.

Gallade had denied it using telepathy and another Alakazam had stood in as a living lie detector. He passed but still the crowd was feeling more than a little vicious towards the trainer and his pokemon, public opinion had done a U-turn.

Also two trainers had had their pokeballs stolen, there was no news of any discoveries and as they were considered to be the two to beat other than the gym-leader-to-be the finger was being pointed for that as well.

Then there were the appeals, One quirk of David's training was that he no longer gave commands, relying on his pokemon to make the right choice, the two trainers Empoleon and Gardevoir had beaten were both trying for appeals saying that their pokemon had been recklessly endangered and that for all they knew their opponents were actually wild pokemon.

It wasn't looking good and with at least eight rounds after this one it wasn't going to get better

* * *

David had two hours till his second fight and was busy trying to research his opponent – only the first match was random, every match afterwards was paired up.

His opponent shouldn't be a problem really but with a match this easy something had to be up. His opponent was a Magikarp, how it had gotten through the first round was anyones guess, either that or the trainer had something up their sleeve.

With this unexpected turn of events he was checking every move Magikarp could learn, still drawing a blank on anything remotely useful. What was really, really strange was that it had been tough enough to make it through round one yet hadn't evolved, after all who used an everstone on a Magikarp?

* * *

The Magikarp just flopped around, not attacking. Two wooden stumps were all that was left of the bokken which had shattered on the hard scales.

David sat in the centre of the arena meditating, the crowd were mainly asleep at this point. The battle had literally dragged on for hours extending the expected time of the competition to at least an extra day.

The judges were conferring with each other.

"Karp. Karp."

David opened an eye and glared at the offending fish. Aura Sphere and even medium level telekinesis had bounce of the bloody fish, his blades were splinters. Needless to say he was not amused.

He slowly got up and stretched, multiple joints clicked. Then he jogged over to the edge of the arena and began talking animatedly to Gardevoir.

"So how are the other winners doing?"

_'Sleeping, hoping to conserve their energy'_

"Yet you decided to watch me fight, how sweet." Sarcasm oozed from the comment at an almost visible level. It wasn't anything personal it was just how the pair cooperated, pretending to hate each others guts when training, battling or working, so far it had been very effective – well at least thats what they said.

'_you are my trainer, if you lose I must protect you.'_

"Karp, Karp." The Magikarp soared past David's head and out of the arena having mistimed it's Splash completely.

A small cheer rose from the crowd which gradually became a roar as more of the audience woke up, even the refs looked relieved.

The referee for this fight shook the trainer's shoulder till she woke up before informing her she had lost.

David bowed then legged it for his room falling asleep almost as soon as he hit the bed – sustained boredom really can be quite draining.

David awoke slowly, drifting in and out of consciousness till finally as though a switch had been flicked he leaped out of bed in a single movement.

Five minutes later he was out of the door, there was no natural light within the cave so he had no idea of the time. Groggily he made towards the main hall. It was vacant but the clock said that it was 7am. Strange, there was only two hours till the next round surely the trainers would - for lack of a better word - be training.

Confused and still half-asleep, David made his way to his pokemon's quarters. Just as he made the turning there was a loud crack behind him and the tunnel he had previously been in caved in. There were another couple of ominous cracks and as David looked up rocks from the ceiling began to fall. He ran, trying to outrace the cave-in. Somehow he made it.

He walked on to the his pokemon's rooms. He arrived at last. Slowly he pushed open one of the doors, seeking reassurance that he was not alone.

David averted his eyes for the room was a site of destruction. Gallade had a gaping hole in his chest and all the furnishings had been destroyed in what appeared to be a psychic battle.

He moved onto the next room, Scyther's. Something was obviously wrong before he even opened the door. Green ichor was oozing under the small gap at the bottom. The door opened with a sick squelch. Scyther lay in pieces, each joint had been cut with a near surgical precision. This room showed little sign of a struggle though, just a few cuts in the bark of the tree where Scyther slept, which due to Scyther's quick temper was to be expected.

'What's behind door no.3?' Lucario was missing but again no signs of a struggle.

With mounting dread David moved onto Empoleon's room, both pokemon were there, Empoleon sleeping in his pond while Lucario was sitting against the wall watching the door. David let out a breath he hadn't known he'd been holding.

"Thank Arceus you two are ok."

"…."

"Guys?

"...."

"Guys....?"

David walked over to Lucario and poked her in the shoulder, she fell sideways, her neck at an unnatural angle. With even greater trepidation he moved to the pond but stopped when he heard a snore. '_At least Empoleon made it'_ he thought.

The next room along was Machamp's , the room was relatively normal except for two things, one it's occupant wasn't there and two there was a scorch mark with a Machamp shaped void. Sadly in this case two add two definitely made four.

David walked right past the next room, it was permanently unused as the pokemon it was intended for was currently in it's pokeball.

The last room. '_please be alright, please be alright, please be alright...'_ David repeated it in his head like a mantra as he pushed open the door not yet daring to look. He opened one eye then the other, his Gardevoir lay unconscious on the floor but was not obviously injured.

He took the few steps to cross the room but was thrown back against the wall as he hit a psychic shield. '_what the!?'. _He took a step back then lunged trying to punch through the shield by surrounding his hand in aura. The shield threw him against the wall once more.

"Ow."

He threw himself at the shield again. Same result.

"Oh, no you don't." He growled drawing on his psychic power preparing to release a pulse of energy to disrupt the shield. Instead of stopping it at his usual point he contained to store more energy in the ball within his palms till he had to use some to shield the ball and stop it exploding. Of course this was dangerous if his concentration slipped then there wouldn't even be a bloodstain.

The ceiling cracked slightly as the compound threatened to give way completely, David couldn't help it, he looked up and then his vision went white.

David bolted upright in bed accidentally headbutting the person standing over him worriedly. He was covered in a cold sweat and now to top it off he had a headache.

He looked up.

"Sorry."

'_Thats okay, what's wrong' _Gardevoir asked.

"Just the nightmare again. I got further this time."

_'Why don't you call me by my real name anymore?'_

"It's the tournament, I have got to remain professional till all this is over, if I'm laughing and joking with you and Emp then the entire side could lose, Scyther and Lucario are already out. Once this is over then win or lose things will return to normal." David paused before continuing, "If any more fall out next round I'll have to choose a poke'mon to specifically be trained above the others."

With this said David settled back down into the bed to sleep and was only slightly surprised when Gardevoir joined him. Without a word and just a mental shrug he focused on getting to sleep.

If either of them had looked they would have seen a wisp of black smoke disappear into the walls.

Author's Note: I forgot how fun it is to be able to give little pointers and cues like the last line.


	3. Chapter 3

There was under an hour till the next round and all the remaining contestants were training hard.

Nestled deep within their own personal training cavern, David was putting his team through a light warm up before the match.

The cavern had a large and varied population of wild pokemon within it which over time had come to accept the presence of the intruders and eventually both wild and captured pokemon had come to a mutually beneficial agreement.

A number of Golem were currently trying to crush Machamp with Rollout. Needless to say their success rate was practically a minus number with Machamp more than able to dodge easily or if they all tried to crush him at once stop one with each arm.

David was launching psychic attacks at Gardevoir who was blocking each of them with a bored air about her.

Empoleon was currently cutting deep gouges into the rock with Hydro Cannon.

Gallade had probably the most difficult task, he was fighting Scyther with his blades while fending off psychic attacks from an Alakazam, this was designed to simulate both a two on one battle and a fight with another Gallade

Finally David called a halt to the training and both trainer and pokemon left their improvised gym for the next round.

* * *

"Machamp think judo, he's heavier than you use his weight against him and watch out for the horn."

Easier said then done, Machamp was currently grappling with a Nidoking and it was taking all four arms to hold the large pokemon off whilst the Nidoking was using it's horn to stab into Machamp's torso with Machamp's arms preoccupied stopping the Nidoking from literally just picking him up and throwing him across the cavern into a wall.

"Machamp disengage now" The pokemon let go and sidestepped and with the other pokemon encountering no resistance plunge forward whilst Machamp landed a lethal blow around it head as it shot past. It quickly came to a stop and turned rubbing it's head just in time to catch another punch from Machamp who proceeded to rapidly launching rockshattering punches on Nidoking's armoured chest. But despite the hammering it was taking Nidoking was relatively uninjured due to it's immense resistance to fighting type techniques and durable armour.

"Nidoking Megahorn" shouted it's trainer. The horn knocked Machamp flying. "Now use Hyper Beam!"

"Machamp use Protect." The beam bounced off the coalescent shield and unable to move the Nidoking was completely defenceless under Machamp's onslaught, at one thousand punches in two seconds and with all of them catching it in the head, the pokemon collapsed unconscious to the floor.

A cheer went up from the crowd.

"Machamp is the winner!" said the commentator.

Machamp exited via one of the tunnels looking more than just a little pleased with itself.

* * *

"Rhyperior use Rock Blast!"

Rocks flew from the pokemon's hands hitting Empoleon but not even knocking it back, the rock move was almost completely ineffective against the steel type at least until the rocks began grabbing hold of Empoleon.

It seemed having learnt what she was up against the trainer had deliberately had her Rhyperior store Geodude instead of normal rocks.

David smiled, it was clever but useless in the long term.

"Empoleon use Hydro Cannon." He said inflectionlessly.

The aquatic blast launched Rhyperior into the wall leaving a vaguely humanoid impression in the rock, the Rhyperior fell having been knocked out in a single move.

"Rhyperior is unable to battle, Empoleon is the winner!"

The Geodude attacked Empoleon viciously but even in their somewhat enraged state did little damage. Soon Empoleon recovered and defeated the small pokemon with a simple bubble attack before walking out through it's tunnel.

* * *

David watched, he'd already lost track of which Gallade was his and suspected his opponent had as well. Neither were even bothering with instructions as the fight was happening too fast for either to follow, rapid swordplay and a mental battle which gave anyone who is psychically attuned a sort of mental toothache were interspersed with the occasional Night Slash, Leaf Blade and Slash whilst mentally Psychics and Confusions were flying in all directions, occasionally one of them would try a Psycho Cut but were inevitably blocked by a Psycho Cut from the other fighter, Teleports were also common being used to dodge attacks and in some cases one Gallade would swing a cut which looked pointless and then Teleported to a point where it would connect but the response was generally for the other Gallade to teleport a few metres then close the gap once more.

Both audience and trainers were enraptured by the skill and ingenuity both pokemon showed.

And it wasn't just natural attacks both trainer's had splashed out on TMs for their pokemon. SO far no Hyper Beams although David knew his Gallade knew the attack. Thunderbolts kept being launched but the other combatant would just use Protects and go in for another cut without even breaking step, finally one of them was too slow to block a Thunderpunch to the chin, the arm throwing the punch followed through cutting into the cheek. For whichever Gallade had been caught with the punch it was downhill from there, the blocks were slow and weak and it seemed dazed from the punch.

It was over in less than a minute. With a brutal uppercut and the Gallade was knocked backward literally managing a backflip in the air before landing face first in the dirt.

Slowly the winning Gallade walked to the centre of the field, faced it's opponent, bowed then walked over to David's side. It faced the audience and judges before saluting.

"_Wait a second Gallade_." David said as Gallade turned to leave. With a quick nod Gallade turned to face the audience once more. "_You fought well._" He placed a hand on his pokemon's shoulder before walking towards the other trainer who had just returned his Gallade to it's poke ball.

"Hey kid, what's your name?"

"Uh... Carl."

"Well Carl, that is one hell of a fighter you have there, you must have put a lot of effort into training him."

"But I lost."

"Yes but that's no reason not to carry on trying. It was just bad luck that lost you the battle."

David extended a hand which Carl somewhat reluctantly shook.

"Rematch someday?"

"Sure" said Carl with a slight smile.

With that David walked past Gallade who followed, their steps in perfect synch as they mentally discussed the battle.

* * *

David walked out onto the field with a slight spring in his step, with just two fights left for the team and no losses the day seemed to be going very well. He pulled the _bo_ staff from it's straps on his back holding it at right angles to his body before bowing to his opponent, a Steelix.

Despite the confidence he outwardly showed he honestly hadn't a clue how to beat the huge snake and ever since finding out what he was fighting had been wracking his brain for a solution.

'My best chance is Aura Sphere' He thought.

The young trainer began charging a sphere as he waited for his massive foe to do something.

"Steelix use Iron Tail!"

The tail swept towards David, too large to jump and too fast to dodge. He unleashed the Aura Sphere into the ground through his staff, the blast sent him over the tail and he landed with practiced poise on one of the segments of the iron snake's body and began to run up the creature's back charging an Aura Sphere in his hands.

"Steelix roll over, crush him!"

David pushed the bo into the one of the pokemon's joints using it to propel himself further up the creature but upon landing found himself unable to remove it and continued on running diagonally against the spin although slowly finding himself drawn towards the ground where he would be crushed under the creature's weight. Finally just two segments from it's head he unleashed the now large Aura Sphere into the joint, he was thrown completely off of the pokemon as it convulsed and hit the ground managing to roll as he hit to lower the impact. He spun on the sole of one foot to face the infuriated pokemon. Without prompting from it's trainer it began charging a Hyper Beam, determined to reduce the one who'd injured it to no more than a stain.

Despite his limited aura and psychic abilities there was no way that David could stop a Hyper Beam.

In desperation David looked for his staff which was amazingly still intact despite Steelix's barrel roll. Focusing his mind on the staff he tapped into the energy he had stored there over the years and unleashed it in a single burst that annihilated the staff and blasted Steelix skyward. The Hyper Beam missed and cut deep into the rock.

"Steelix use Dig." The iron snake hit the ground head first and burrowed it's way into the rock rapidly. The sound of it's chewing was an assault on the ears!

David let his mind reach out seeking the mind of it's foe, finding it he rolled left as the snake broke free of the rock with it's mouth wide open; hoping to swallow him whole!

David scythed his arm through the air, the psycho cut caught the Steelix in the head leaving a visible cut but despite the the wound was just a few millimetres deep.

"Steelix use Rollout." A rather rare move for a Steelix but nevertheless the pokemon rolled into a wheel and span towards it's human opponent, it's spines scything the ground. David easily rolled out of the way of clumsy move hitting it as it passed with a weak Force Palm that still managed to unbalance the pokemon causing it to roll right into a wall.

The battle so far was almost entirely one-sided but still the Steelix seemed unharmed. As it righted itself David sent a telekinetic wave at the giant blasting it into the wall once more. The Steelix finally fell, exhausted, battered and slightly dented it just couldn't take anymore.

"David wins, another astonishing victory for the would-be-gym-leader."

* * *

David stood calmly, out of all the battles today this was the only one where he was absolutely certain of victory.

Gardevoir was currently using Psychic to send it's opponent – Garchomp - smashing from wall to wall. It's trainer looked on worried. Finally she let go of her mental hold on the Garchomp and it plummeted to the floor but somehow turned it into a glide towards it's trainer who with malice glinting in his eyes whispered something to it before shouting loudly.

"Giga Impact!"

Instead of heading for the pokemon it aimed for it's trainer plunging towards him. Acting on instinct rather than thought Gardevoir teleported in front of her trainer.

"No! _No!_" David's cry was physical, mental and heart-rending but it achieved nothing. The attack hit Gardevoir full on sending her body flying into that of it's trainer who managed to catch her as her was knocked over.

"Gardevoir is unable to battle, Garchomp is the winner, Marcus and Garchomp proceed to the next round!"

A huge roar of outrage went up from the crowd but rules were rules, despite everyone knowing exactly what the trainer – Marcus - had ordered: They couldn't prove it so there was nothing anyone could do.

Oblivious to all this David sat on the ground Gardevoir's broken body cradled in his arms, blood dribbled from the corner of her mouth and a large number of bones were visibly broken, it seemed impossible anything that injured could still be alive yet alive she was. Barely.

Standing slowly; mindful not to cause his friend any further injury David walked out seeking the pokemon centre that had been built specifically for the tournament.

Author's Note: Thank you loyal readers, for some reason my stories now seem to be heading for soppy romances to correct this I am now adding an element of vengence, hate, horror and murder to each of them, also as luck would have it, and it really was luck, wihtout this note the chapter would be 2000 words precisely.


	4. Chapter 4

* * *

Author's Note: And now for an interlude which will hopefully make some things clearer, and some even more confusing

In one cave near the arena a lone man sat at a green leather desk, the desk was obviously antique and yet if anyone had entered this cave just a few months ago they would have found the cave empty. Someone had also spent the time to add doors to the entrance, nevertheless the man in the suit clearly viewed the conditions as substandard but knew them to be necessary. Still some things were the same as the office he usually usedUnder the desk a Persian purred, absentmindedly he tickled it under the chin. Someone knocked on the door, and the man sat up sinking back into his seat before flicking a switch on the chair's side which turned the lights in front of him off - he would be just a black silhouette to anyone who entered the cave – he began drumming his fingers together appearing to be deep in thought.

"Enter."

Two men entered, they were similarly attired to their boss.

"How many are left in the competition?" snapped the man behind the desk.

"From Kanto just S's Alakazam, from Johto J's Steelix was knocked out of the competition today by the target however all of the ghost pokemon from Johto are through however it seems likely one will lose to the target's Gallade tommorow. All the Heonn leaders are out but Sinnoh's are doing very well, fighting, steel and rock have got through completely unscathed." reported the man on the left.

"Sir? What should be done about the_ accident _today?"

"Nothing, I suspect our friend shall tie up loose ends without any help from us."

One of the men sniggered but was silenced by a glare.

"And have any of the elite taken up my offer?"

"No sir. But we thought you ought to know that Target Alpha has also entered the competition and faces the operation's main target in the arena tomorrow."

"Good, that annoying upstart won't start a chance."

"Uh... which one sir?"

"At this point I honestly don't care. You are both dismissed however send S my regards."

Once the two had left his office he got out a knife from one of the desk drawers and cut deep into the bottom of his seat before pulling out a audio receiver attached to a data stick. He snapped it in half before throwing it into the corner before waving at the video recorder he knew had been planted in his mirror.

"How unimaginative." he remarked. Of course he knew there wasn't much he could do about the wireless transmitter inside the hollowed out book in the third drawer. Sure he could remove it but no matter what security he placed another one always seemed to appear but hopefully he underlings had spoken vaguely enough for the police to have no cause for arrest, even if they did he would just play the part of the indignant businessman. "Your move officer."

To anyone who had spent a large amount of time observing the man, for example most of Kanto, Johto, Heonn and Sinnoh's police department, they would have noticed a certain nervousness to his movements as though something had caught him off guard.

'Soon' He thought, 'Soon this will all be over.'

At the same time far deeper in the catacombs a trainer stood up from his chair by his pokemon's side releasing it's pale hand from the vicelike grip he had been holding it with, as though just by keeping contact everything would be ok, the pokemon whimpered unconscious though it was and the trainer silenced it, putting his finger to his lips '_ssshhh'_ he said before he strode out into the corridor. Someone was going to pay!

* * *

Author's Note: I'd forgotten the joys of writing 3rd person, this is probably one of the best of them. Read and review as always.


	5. Chapter 5

An observer would have been surprised at the stealth and speed with which the figure traveled the tunnels, but this was a moot point as any observers at this point would have become lost miles back.

Every now and then the figure would stop to clutch his head as his mental link flooded with pain. David had spent hours sitting next to his Gardevoir trying to draw the pain out to himself and sent positive thoughts and emotions back through. Even Gallade - who normally couldn't stand Gardevoir – had tried to help using it's psychic power to realign bones although the pokemon was still too weak to heal them as was his trainer. The only psychic David had that was that strong was the one currently lying in a pain induced coma. David sighed. Both pokemon were psychically linked to their trainer, their links strengthened even further by their trainer's own power, it was the first time in the eight years since he started his pokemon journey that the trainer had found the link a burden rather than a boon; fortunately he had managed to stop his own negative thoughts making it across the link.

Like when the Nurse Joy had taken one look at Gardevoir and told him not to waste her time and let her heal pokemon that weren't beyond help, according to the nurse, Gardevoir would be dead in two hours maximum. Eight hours later the pokemon was still alive but in the hour since her trainer had left her side the injured pokemon had been rapidly deteriorating, not only physically but mentally as well, what little control she had over her psychic abilities while unconscious disappeared and her thoughts were leaking across the link like a flood.

A flood of pain.

David did what he could to quiet the distressed pokemon with the reassuring presence of his mind but in her injured state she barely noticed. Even at this distance the connection was still strong and the strain showed on the trainer's face as the feeling of pain which isn't his slowly eroded his own mental control.

The trainer straightened and carried on through the tunnel he reached for one of the poke balls on his belt and released the inhabitant. Gallade stood tall.

"_Stop any sound reaching those below us_." David sent across their link before reaching for the second poke ball.

Empoleon stood next to his trainer.

"Use Hydro Cannon, blast through the floor below us but no more than that.

Empoleon fired, the blast cutting deep into the rock till it reached the cave below. Gallade's face showed the effort clearly as he stopped the sound reaching the sleeping occupant below.

David jumped down the hole using his powers to stop himself just a few inches from the floor, slowly he descended, careful not to make a sound.

Silently he tread over to the bed and began to feed psychic power into the sleeping form, already mentally exhausted both in terms of energy and clearness of thought he almost collapsed from the effort but finally he thought he had infused his victim with enough energy. Unused to such energy it would already be burning it's way to the skin, not physically but it would feel to the trainer as if his body were on fire till the energy left, and when it left it wouldn't be pretty...

David tried to send a mental signal to Gallade to levitate him out but found that till he had time to rest even that was beyond him, psychically exhausted and having not found a way to levitate with Aura. Unless Gallade got him out there was no way he could avoid being seen.

With no energy to hold it off anymore Gardevoir's pain swept over him like a tsunami as he sank into the dark oblivion.

* * *

David awoke, he was in the chair in his room and his mind felt unusual, as though there was a fog over his thoughts. With his psychic powers somewhat recovered he isolated the source of the muddled thinking, Gardevoir's mind had been seeping over the connection and in it's comatose state it wasn't helping, gently he pushed the small part of her consciousness which had crossed the link back across.

Slowly, and hurting more than a little from yesterday's midnight excursion, he got up and put on a pair of rubber boots, even weak as he was today's fight should be easy.

Glancing at the clock he saw there was half an hour till his fight, he had twenty minutes till he had to leave for the arena. All of his pokemon were more than capable of turning up for their fights on time and presumably the referees would understand his absence after yesterday's events.

So settling back into his seat he began trying to set more of his friend's bones back in place.

* * *

David stepped into the light of the arena, his opponent – Andy Ketchup or something along those lines – had his pokemon sat on his shoulder. Upon David entering the arena it jumped down.

The trainer waited for David to unleash a pokemon. One of the adjudicators stepped forwards.

"This match will be Ash Ketchum's Pikachu versus David. The fight will continue till either one leaves the arena, surrenders or is unable to battle."

A voice piped up from the other end of the arena.

"Excuse me sir but you didn't say what pokemon he would be using."

"He isn't, your Pikachu is fighting him."

"But that's pointless noone can stand up to a pokemon." The trainer – Ketchum – grinned foreseeing an easy victory.

"Let battle commence!" The adjudicator bellowed.

David walked forwards slowly.

"Pikachu Thundershock but don't hurt him too much."

The human combatant didn't even feel the electrical arc as his rubber boots grounded the electricity. Any trainer who had trained a temperamental electrical pokemon soon learned the value of rubber boots.

Reaching his opponent who was still trying to shock him he grabbed the electric rat by the scruff of it's neck and slowly walked to the tunnel by which he had entered. And threw the pokemon into it.

"Pikachu has left the arena, David is the winner."

"Hang on, but he -"

"Sorry kid but he didn't break any rules."

Overhead the audience cheered and booed depending on who they supported.

David shrugged, it had been a dirty trick but he hadn't the time to waste on this battle, already he could feel Gardevoir deteriorating without a psychic near enough to keep her powers in check. He walked past the kid who grabbed his arm.

"What was that about? You may not have broken any rules but that was still blatant cheating. It's unfair"

Incensed he turned on this annoying squirt.

"Unfair, do you really want to know what unfair is?" He spat. "My Gardevoir is on her deathbed and do you know why! Because her opponent ordered his Garchomp to attack me, noone can prove it but everyone knows. Do you know what a Gardevoir's basic instinct is? Huh kid? Protect it's trainer, and when their trainer is in that much danger they don't stop to think, they put themselves in the attack's way, if she'd been acting on thought rather than instinct she would have used Protect but instinct is instinct and now she is dying because she saved me! Now tell me kid, do you really know what unfair is?" David finished his rant and stormed off into the tunnel network.

The kid followed on and asked, "Why didn't you just take her to the pokemon centre?"

More calmly now but his voice full of bitterness David answered. "I did, Nurse Joy told me not to waste her time and to let her work on pokemon which could still be saved."

The two walked on in silence but as they both turned to part ways Ash gave one final comment.

"I'm sorry, and you're right, I didn't know what unfair is."

* * *

Elsewhere in the caverns.

Marcus staggered into the pokemon centre – there were no human facilities in the mountains – hopefully Nurse Joy could help him, ever since he'd woken up he had been feeling ill and his body hurt all over as though he was on fire.

"Nurse Joy please help me."

The nurse looked up. "What appears to be the problem young man."

"Well you see, I -"

The trainer exploded over the shocked physician, as his body blew apart decorating the walls of the centre with his viscera he had time for one last thought.

_'Please let someone look after Garchomp'_

For unscrupulous as Marcus was he had truly cared for his pokemon.

It wouldn't be found out till days later that Marcus had entered the competition only after receiving one hundred thousand pounds the day before entry. What would never be found out by the authorities was who had hired him and what he had been told to do. All actions have consequences and a month later his five year old brother received a poke ball and a package in the post.

The package contained one hundred thousand in cash, a copy of his brother's will and a letter from the police which boiled down to them saying they had no idea what caused his death.

The will gave half the money to the Garchomp and half to his brother both under the proviso that the youngster would get the pokemon and that the money for Garchomp would be spent taking care of Garchomp. A new pokemon journey was about to begin.

For that is how easily good people are led astray.

All actions have consequences...

Author's Note: In my opinion my best chapter yet.


	6. Chapter 6

David sank further into his seat looking for a silver lining. Despite his own victory a lot had gone badly in the last round, Gallade had been beaten by a Spiritomb and Machamp had suffered minor injuries, which wouldn't be a problem except the pokemon centre was closed for some reason.

There was a knock on the door. He got up and proceeded to the door and opened it, two business men in posh black suits were waiting outside. The trainer got the impression that if he'd waited a few hours they'd still have been there.

"Yes?"

"Sir." They both said formally. "The gym leader Giovanni requests your presence." They turned to leave.

"Wait!" They turned back, "Please tell Giovanni that regretfully I must decline his offer, I need to stay here or Gardevoir's powers will run rampant. Tell him that I will glad see him once she has healed."

"As you wish sir." They both turned on the ball of one foot and marched down the corridor.

David turned back to reenter the cave when he remembered, a large number of gym leaders had entered the competition including the famous psychic Sabrina. It was time he got a professional opinion.

* * *

Sabrina had agreed to see what she could do providing two of her more promising students were present for the conversation and any demonstration of psychic power that occurred. Now all four were sat facing each other across the table in David's cave.

"I just don't get why she is still unconscious, she should have woken up by now and her psychic outbursts are getting worse and more frequent."

"It's one of the problems of raising psychic pokemon, when the body is fatally wounded they can separate their consciousness from their body if they have time, it's how a lot of Haunter and Gastly are created and even the occasional Shuppet should an appropriate vessel be present. The problem is that your Gardevoir is still alive and thereby still minimally connected to it's body. It is bound in it's vessel till death but unable to get it to operate."

"Are you saying Gardevoir must die?"

"No." There was a kindness to the new Sabrina, she still had that cold, authorative edge to her but no longer was it a madness, a deep dark madness which viewed humans as nothing more than toys – sometimes literally. David remembered his last battle with her very clearly. He and his pokemon back then, Prinplup, Ralts, Machoke, Pidgeotto, Graveller and to his eternal shame a Magikarp. He remembered how worried he'd been over Ralts still not evolving, over Graveller's inability to master Magnitude and all the other things a rookie trainer worries about. Not knowing the rumours surrounding the Saffron gym the battle had been an eye opener.

He remembered how Prinplup had been blasted off it's feet by a Psywave, he remembered how even the heavy Graveller had been thrown into the wall of the arena. How Pidgeotto had knocked itself out from confusion. And how - once again to his eternal shame - Magikarp had done better than all four of the previous combatants, surviving not just the Alakazam's first attack but all the way up to it's twentieth – despite their combat ineptness Magikarp are remarkably resilient. He remembered how out of all his pokemon only Ralts had landed an attack on the psychic powerhouse, a single Confusion to which the Alakazam had retaliated with a full blown Psychic knocking the tiny humanoid out instantly.

He remembered withdrawing his pokemon to it's poke ball then turning to leave, he remembered being stopped by Sabrina's own psychic ability, he remembered how his own previously unknown innate power had prevented her turning him into a doll, and finally he remembered how Sabrina had argued a compromise with herself – a rather disturbing thing to watch – and let him leave, admittedly through the roof.

Yes, he decided. This Sabrina was infinitely different.

"Yes I am." David practically fell out of his chair in shock at the ease his defences had been breached.

"No I didn't get into your mind, it's just common for... previous challengers to think along those lines."

"Oh... sorry. Is there anything that can be done?"

"Yes, you can wait. Hopefully once she heals physically her mind will realise it is safe to go back and will automatically reenter her body."

"If her mind is outside her body then how come I can still feel her pain through our link, and why is she in pain?"

"You are linked to her mind not her body, I would have thought a psychic of your prowess and reputation would know that much, as for the pain, she is reliving the last moment before she entered the coma, she has no senses now to make new memories in fact when she wakes it will be to her as though no time has passed."

"Can you heal her?"

"I am strong but not that strong David, powerful by our standards we both are, but you must remember we are still human."

Sabrina sighed and seemed to change becoming colder and darker.

"And now we must talk business, I will be honest I hope you lose this competition for if you were to win it would rock the very foundations of the Leagues."

David had a perplexed expression as he mulled this over.

"If my winning would be so traumatic for the League then why fund the competition?"

"They fund it in the hopes you will lose and thereby lose face."

"I don't understand?"

"Your training methods, your priorities, none of it fits in with what the League stands for."

"But I've always put my pokemon first!" David half-shouted.

"Exactly, the league may say you should put your pokemon first but it doesn't mean it, it still views pokemon as tools to be used and unimportant compared to humans. A trainer actually training and even fighting alongside their pokemon? It would be a disaster for the League."

"Surely -" He stopped, "why are you telling me this?"

"Because if you won they would have to resort to more extreme methods, you've already seen it start, the murder in round two, the stolen pokemon, haven't you noticed that the blame is all being pointed at you?"

"But they – I mean – surely -"

"It's gets worse." She sweeped her arm indicating Gardevoir, "this was no accident, oh I'm sure they intended this to be you but I can guarantee it was orchestrated by either another gym leader or anyone else with a vested interest in preserving the status quo."

"How can I possibly be a threat?"

"Your gym is already popular, imagine what it would be like if it was official, and from you trainers would learn to really treat their pokemon as equals, sure you command them but would you really expect them to carry out an order if they didn't agree with it?"

"No." David said honestly.

Sabrina got up to leave, her students got up and left but she had a few final comments for the stunned trainer before she left.

"Officially I hope you lose, but off the record... good luck."

She left before sticking her head back into the cave.

"Oh and David... watch out for Giovanni. He's always been a rogue and where he stands on this will make all the difference."

And with that she was gone leaving the confused trainer to mull things over.

Twenty minutes later...

The psychic collapsed as his memory of the latter part of the conversation he had heard was erased from his mind, he would be awake in a few minutes, next to him his fellow student had done the same. Sabrina calmly stepped over them as she proceeded to her own quarters. She honestly felt for the young trainer, he hadn't a chance. Still when he failed she would seriously consider taking him on as an apprentice or perhaps let him help run the Saffron gym should she ever need a holiday, he really was a rare psychic gem.

Author's Note: Not my best chapter but I do believed it added a bit of background and explained the plot a bit more. Also very sorry for the delay I just spell checked this chapter and realised it's been sitting here finished on my PC for 5 months.

Author's Note: Now rewritten for better quality.


	7. Chapter 7

David walked into the arena however for once he was not in the centre but the audience, he had been hoping to watch this fighter for some time now but Gardevoir's injury had prevented him from leaving for fear of finding his room had imploded in his absence. Fortunately Sabrina had agreed to stand watch with her Alakazam, David chuckled under his breath. He knew Sabrina thought she had got the better end of the deal with the chance to study a Gardevoir.

The fighter walked into the arena, all entrants had been allowed to compete alongside their pokemon if they wished but only ten others had taken up the offer, of those ten David was watching the only one still in the tournament.

She fought with an acrobatic style, a series of leap and flying kicks. Which sent her opponent reeling, finally her opponent – a Raticate – tried to fight back with Hyper Fang, the fighter somersaulted the rat effortlessly before landing a spinning kick on it's back then she leapt into the air Raticate turned round not looking up, the fighter landed on top of it and brought a fist right between it's eyes. The pokemon crumpled and David - although not understanding how the pokemon had been knocked unconscious by such a minor blow – applauded.

Slowly David got up from his seat in the stands unnoticed within the crowd and even though he knew she would never see a single gesture within this crowd he saluted her before walking back into the tunnels.

* * *

David was sitting once more in the armchair by the side of his injured pokemon but this time he was just relaxing rather than trying to heal the grievous wounds. At the moment his presence was all that was needed to prevent any more psychic bursts from Gardevoir's pained mind. And then they came, the door was knocked of it's hinges as police officers with pokemon barged in, there were many psychics and fighting pokemon presumably chosen specifically to combat the trainer's abilities.

David got up calmly.

"Evenin' officers. May I know what this is all about?" He inquired, confused but polite.

"I apologise sir but we need to ask you some questions down at the station." said an Officer Jenny, miraculously the only Jenny in the room, a rare occurrence when there are multiple officers at the scene.

"A station already? I thought it would be months till a community was established."

Jenny cleared her throat. "It will be sir, by the station I meant the cave we are currently holed up in."

"My apologies officer, I did not mean to offend, and I am afraid I must decline your generous offer. My pokemon need me." He said indicating his comatose Gardevoir.

"Be that as it may and as touching as your devotion to your pokemon's welfare is your presence here is doing nothing to actually help. Now I must insist you come with us."

"You misunderstand me officer, I am actually needed here, it is only my presence here which is stopping Gardevoir from psychically lashing out." He said calmly, still acting the gracious host. "Why do you think I haven't left except for my own fights and to watch a single fight I viewed as interesting enough to risk the danger of leaving her in the hands of another psychic." He lied smoothly and easily.

"We will need the name of this other psychic to corroborate your story."

"Of course officer, her name is Sabrina, hopefully you've heard of her." David said sarcastically his annoyance starting to show.

"The matter is quite urgent sir, we may need to press charges."

"What sort of charges?"

"The murder of Marcus Fara."

"The bastard's dead is he? Well it's no skin off my nose. Have you autopsied the body yet?"

"I refuse to answer that question."

"Then please leave, this is getting nowhere and you're distracting me. I will submit myself to you for questioning when it is viable. Fair enough?"

"That will be all for now."

"Good and can you please put the door back on your way out." He collapsed back into his seat.

Eventually once he was sure the police had gone he got up and put the door back on it's hinges. No sooner had he got back to his chair when someone knocked on the door which fell with a dull thud revealing the two men in suits from earlier. They were looking more than slightly surprised.

"Come in." said David struggling to hide his amusement.

"Thank you, sir."

"If you're here to repeat your offer then don't waste your time. My answer is still the same."

"Giovanni says that he understands your loyalty to your pokemon and has requested we bring this." He held out a laptop and placed it on the table before flipping open the lid, David leaned forwards to see the screen properly and there was the most infamous gym leader on the planet staring back at him.

"Giovanni." David's voice was suddenly flat, completely devoid of emotion and inflection.

"Ah, David. I must apologise for the inconvenience but there are matters I believe need to be discussed."

"Yes there most certainly are." David replied again keeping emotion out of his voice.

"Marco, Marcus. Please leave." The two suits left silently. "I believe you may require my help."

"And why would you believe that?" David inquired, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh drop the act. I will give you one bit of advice, leave the competition and never return to the League again."

"And if I do not?"

"Then the League and I shall not be held responsible for the consequences, this is your final warning."

"I do not respond well to threats Giovanni. And if you really expect me to back down now then you are a fool. There is no threat you can come up with that will make me forsake my goal!" David shouted, emotion finally clouding his voice.

"How about this one? Leave now or she dies." He gestured imperiously towards Gardevoir beyond the screen.

At that last threat David lost it and the computer exploded shrapnel flying everywhere and all that kept David and his Gardevoir being torn apart by the debris was the psychic shield he had erected. In Giovanni's office the result was not quite so spectacular, the computer fizzled as electricity arced uncontrolled upon it's surface as it's hardware caught fire. Giovanni smiled maliciously.

"So be it. 009 I have an assignment for you." Out of the shadows someone moved.

* * *

Author's Note: The content of the two chapters shall be decided by you the reviewer. That is, you will decide if Gardevoir lives or dies! What I can guarantee is an appearance by Flannery, Lt. Surge, and even a brief appearance by Jessie, James and Meowth along with the other human left in the competition and even 009 – Domino.

In other news there is a chance that Memoirs of a Fool may be rewritten so that it includes an actual plot rather than just a first attempt at writing longer chapters which was it's essential purpose, note that this is a repost of the old chapter with a few of the errors ironed out, same with chapters 5 and 6


End file.
